Instead of brushing his guest away, the pope stayed focused and continued greeting other guests. Five seconds later, the bug left on his own.

The small guest, right, flies away after spending five seconds meeting the pope. (CNS/Paul Haring)

This was not the pope’s first encounter with a wayward insect. In 2009, a spider took his time climbing on the pope’s cape as he gave a speech inside the presidential palace in the Czech Republic. While the pope seemed not to notice and did not react, the incident drew a lot of international media attention. In fact, the spider garnered more media coverage than the pope’s speech.

Pope Benedict XVI is known for his immense powers of concentration. This is likely why he seems to not be bothered by little creatures.

3 Responses

the so-called “liberal” media are Always bugging the pope and Catholic events- protests, even by the few some empty seats in the Bundestag, war on women when our issue was freedom of religion. real bugs sometimes distract their fickle minds